Doug Christie Addresses Hot Seat Noise After Kings' Loss to Blazers

With Friday night's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, the Sacramento Kings are now riding a five-game losing streak and are sitting at 1-11 through 12 games this season. Things could not be going much worse for the Kings, and the only thing saving them right now is that they are not the only team in a disaster.

The Kings are one of the three NBA teams with only one win on the season, and one of the six teams with three or fewer wins. Because of the new lottery rules, the Kings need to finish outside the bottom three, but things are not looking good. Naturally, with such a rough start, there has been plenty of talk about a potential coaching change.

It is no secret that Doug Christie is on the hot seat, and after Friday's 13-point loss to Portland, he was asked about those conversations.

"I think this seat is hot, always. It doesn't really matter—obviously, we want to win the games. Nobody wants to win more than me, from the standpoint that the record doesn’t go on players’ numbers. The record goes on coaches’ numbers," Christie said.

Doug Christie when asked if he feels like his seat is hot:

“I think this seat is hot always… Nobody wants to win more than me from the standpoint that the record doesn’t go on players’ numbers. The record goes on coaches’ numbers.” pic.twitter.com/73pHNBFzzX
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) November 14, 2026

The seat is unquestionably hot for Christie, as not many coaches survive a 1-11 start to the season. If Christie were fired tomorrow, nobody would bat an eye. However, he might be hanging around longer than he probably should. The Kings seem to be willing to give Christie more chances to fix things.

Can Christie turn things around?

The Kings are a bad team. It is hard to imagine any coach getting this team to the playoffs, but there have to be better options than Christie, right? Still, he believes that once the Kings get healthy, they will start turning things around.

"We come in and continue to teach, continue to push. As we get all these guys back and get them healthy, then we continue down the path of trying to put together what we thought we would be putting together when we started this process," he said.

Nov 8, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie looks on during the third quarter against the Miami Heat at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In Christie's defense, the Kings have been dealing with injuries. Since he took the full-time job in the 2025 offseason, he has not had a fully healthy team.

This season, the Kings have already dealt with injuries to Keegan Murray, Dylan Cardwell, Maxime Raynaud, and a season-ending Achilles tear for Ben Simmons. Sure, we can only speculate what the Kings would be capable of at full strength, but we assume things would be better than they are right now.

Regardless, Christie has to play the cards he is dealt, and so far, he is folding every hand. Since taking over as the full-time head coach, Christie's Kings have a 23-71 record. They have been horrible, and it feels obvious that Christie is not the man for the job.

After the Kings' first 12 games, it would be surprising if Scott Perry and Sacramento's front office let Christie get through the rest of the season unscathed.

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